‘The Boys’ Star on Black Noir and How Season 4 Sets Up a Perilous Final Season

[This episode contains spoilers from season four, episode seven of The Boys .]

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The penultimate episode of The Boys season four could be seen as a coming out for some of the key characters. Viewers finally saw A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) reveal himself to the Seven to be the supe traitor they’ve all been searching for. And Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) admitted to the majority of the Boys vigilante group that he’s holding a Vought scientist against his will in an effort to create a supe-killing virus that can probably kill their archenemy Homelander (Antony Starr), and maybe all supes.

But the biggest coming out party in the episode was for longtime Seven member and martial arts assassin Black Noir, played by Nathan Mitchell. This is actually Black Noir II — not to be confused with the original Black Noir in the first three seasons of The Boys . (And yes, that original Noir was also portrayed by Mitchell.) The new Noir has been taken under the wing of the Deep (Chace Crawford), and Homelander has ordered them to go to the Boys’ headquarters to put an end to the vigilantes for good. New Noir, however, finds out it is not as easy to kill the Boys as one might think, even if you are a supe.

The original Black Noir in the first three seasons was more of a ruthless killing machine who lost his ability to speak after betraying one of the deadliest supes ever, Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). Noir was disfigured and lost his ability to speak after he and group of supes went on a mission to deliver Soldier Boy to the Russians. The mission was successful, but Soldier Boy left Noir with injuries as a reminder of his betrayal. The beating would also give the old Noir the mental capacity of a child.

In season three, the Boys eventually tracked down Soldier Boy and freed him from the Russians in hopes that he would join them in helping to defeat Homelander. The most powerful supe agreed, but only after he tracked down each supe who took part in the mission that betrayed him. He wanted to kill them all, including the original Noir. This would send the original Black Noir on the run and lead to episode seven of season three, which is arguably one of creator/showrunner Eric Kripke ’s and his writers’ most imaginative telling of a nonspeaking Noir and the abusive, violent working relationship he had most of his adult life with Soldier Boy. But by the end of season three, the first Noir would meet his end, being disemboweled by Homelander for failing to tell his leader and friend that Soldier Boy was the Seven’s leader’s father. The Seven, however, still needed a Black Noir.

The Hollywood Reporter recently caught up with Mitchell to talk about how he entered the world of The Boys ; his approach to playing two totally different people in the same masked suit; his favorite scene in his four seasons with The Boys ; and what viewers can expect from the season finale.

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What were you doing before you got to the call to join The Boys cast ?

Directly before I was playing Risk a few days before with my friends. And I was thinking it would be so cool if Seth Rogen called to tell me I got this part. That didn’t happen. But it was in the back of my mind. And then a couple days later, I found out that I got the role.

I think the year before, I had been acting in Vancouver and working my way up the ladder there. And I believe, my first role of the season, the first project I booked in the [TV] season, was Supernatural. So early 2017, I played a character named Kelvin, he was an angel. That was my first or second soiree into Eric Kripke’s world.

So, I had just been auditioning, trying to make my way through the year and coming close in a few things. I really wanted to go down to L.A. for pilot season, and I auditioned for this TV movie. And the director and the producers were like, “Hey, yeah, we really would love you for this role. We’re going to send it to network. You’re going to hear from us in a few days.” And I didn’t hear from them.

And that was heartbreaking. Because it was going to be the means by which I was able to go down to spend a pilot season in L.A. So, ironically, I kind of went into the end of the year, being down, feeling I was so close. Then my buddy told me about this show, The Boys , and said, ask your manager to set up an audition for it. And I remember the first audition I did was for the Deep. And I was like, “Oh, this would really be cool if I got to do this show. But this is not going to happen, whatever.” I did it, didn’t hear anything, and then I went on vacation with my family, feeling like I tried but didn’t fully get what I wanted to do this year. And then the audition came in! It was an A-Train scene and a Deep scene. I had a good vacation in the Caribbean, came home and I taped it. And a few days after New Year’s Day, I found out that I had got the role.

Which Black Noir was more difficult to portray, the first version or the new one?

The first version is more challenging. Because typically as an actor, you don’t train in your career to prepare to do a role where you don’t speak or use facial expressions. Because those are two of our primary tools. So, jumping into the role of the original Black Noir was an adjustment period. There was a learning period, even with the suit. It has its own dynamics of movement, in terms of how it responds to your body; I didn’t know how it would visually look because of the dynamics of the suit. I can think and feel something internally, but if I don’t communicate that properly through my body, it’s not going to get across. There are different dynamics you have to take into consideration when I was playing old Noir that eventually I got the hang of. And new Noir, now I’ve been in a suit for four years; so, I know I’m comfortable with how to move inside of it. I can use my voice and show my face; so it is more in line with the traditional training I’ve done over my career.

With the new Noir, did you change any mannerisms or movements?

Definitely, yes! Old Noir is more stoic and more still. And when I’m approaching both old and new Noir, the question I asked myself is, “Where can I find interesting contrasts?” Because the suit gives you such a singular image and powerful impression of intense, intimidating or strong and powerful; that’s the overwhelming feeling you get. So,with old Noir, I was like, how can I find a contrast that makes him different than what he seems to be? And that’s where you get the vulnerability, the quirkiness; where you get his childlike innocence and oddball nature.

With new Noir, I was like, we’re expecting him to be something like the first one, so how can I make him different? And so, where OG Noir was ruthless and proficient at killing and a master of his craft, new Noir is very green in that aspect. He’s uncomfortable with violence and killing. He doesn’t want to shut up, he wants to speak. And he’s very comfortable doing that. He doesn’t have it all figured out. He doesn’t have it together. He’s not as cool, calm, collected. And so, that’s how I approached it. I try to find the differences between the two characters and highlight them.

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Didn’t old Black Noir have more respect for human life ?

He did, absolutely. And that was one of the contrasts, like someone who kills ruthlessly but has this soft spot for kids and animals. That was his internal contrast. But in terms of just being on the field, he wouldn’t have a problem taking somebody out.

I can’t remember, but did you speak some in season three?

In the third season? We had a great actor come in to do that [Fritzy-Klevans Destine played the younger unmasked and talking first Black Noir in flashback scenes].

Let’s get into the big fight scene in episode seven between new Noir and the Deep taking on Billy Butcher, Starlight and Mother’s Milk in the Flatiron Building (where the Boys are headquartered).

In episode six Deep gives Noir a heart-to-heart pep talk. He relays that killing is something that really turned on old Noir. Whether that’s true or not, which is debatable, it gives Noir an avenue. He’s been like “I need some direction. I need some inkling of what makes this character tick.” And the Deep gives him that insight and that information. So, now Noir has something to work off of. And he’s like, “Okay, so, the key to this character is violence. I have to embrace that. I have to lean into that.” In that scene in the Flatiron, he is beginning to lean into who old Noir was. And the more he commits to that side of Noir, the more of a threat he becomes to the Boys.

But why did he run away once A-Train joined the fight to help the Boys?

Listen, just because he’s a threat doesn’t mean he’s a particularly menacing threat. He is working his way there and, as we can see from that scene, he’s not used to getting shot at! He’s like, “I wasn’t expecting this,” and he can barely handle it. He is still a new kid on the block in a lot of ways. As the season goes on, he begins to embrace killing more.

Going back to the old Noir and the third season, why do you think he didn’t tell Homelander that Soldier Boy was his father (which ultimately led to Homelander killing him by disembowelment)?

I think for a lot of reasons. I think it was really complicated. You have this person who was a bully to old Noir (Soldier Boy), who traumatized him and is the reason he’s disfigured. Just someone who bullied and beat up Noir for a lot of his time during payback. And then you have the reality that Noir saw Homelander come of age. Noir knows he’s the reason Homelander doesn’t have a dad. He is also aware that Homelander is a little unstable in different ways. And he doesn’t want Homelander to go find Soldier Boy and wake him up. So, as much love as old Noir had for Homelander, as much empathy, as much as he wanted the best for him in so many ways, not much good is going to come out of telling Homelander he has a father that Noir betrayed and sent off to the Russians. What if Homelander gets Soldier Boy and they come back and it’s like, “Hey, let’s kick this guy’s ass!” So, there are a lot of reasons for Noir not to tell Homelander.

Some of my favorite scenes of you as this character are actually from season three when the old Noir has a psychotic breakdown (in episode seven of season three, Black Noir enters the childlike world of animated animal friends as he takes refuge in an abandoned Buster Beaver’s animatronics pizza restaurant trying to hide from a vengeful Soldier Boy). What are some of your favorite scenes or episodes as Noir?

That was one of my favorite scenes, when he goes to the Buster Beaver Palace. And it’s funny, when I was younger, I loved Pokémon; so to prepare for this scene, I was getting in touch with my inner child and imagining that I was talking to Charmander and Pikachu. But you see the relationship between Noir and these animated cartoon figures and you realize that these are the primary relationships, and some of the only relationships that he’s really had throughout his life after that accident, right? And getting to use my imagination in that way, he’s like a reluctant kid in that moment. They’re like, “Hey, we have something to show you,” and he’s like, I don’t want to look. And then they’re like, come on. And then you have that moment where he briefly turns the other way, and there’s that immaturity, childlike nature. And then the breathing. It was a lot of fun to portray, and to get to explore that dark night of the soul for Noir was really fulfilling, and I think so fitting. Because while we hadn’t explicitly talked about it before, that cartoon imaginary world would be what is going on inside of his head. So, Eric Kripke and the writers were just fantastic in terms of how they created that story.

What do you imagine season five [ the final season of the series ] is going to look like for the new Noir and/or for The Boys in general?

I think, season five is going to be chaotic. We’re in a mad dash to the finish line and the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been. Everything is way more perilous for the Boys, and I think the Seven is going be as powerful as they have ever been. And new Noir is probably going to be even more comfortable with killing. He’s growing into his role, so he’s more of a threat to the Boys now, even though, again, as we’re saying, it’s still a progression over time. I don’t think The Boys have held back. But if there is anything left to unleash, we’re unleashing it in season five!

It’s going to be batshit crazy, and it’s going to be a battle for the outcome and the future of this world. And that’s the level we’re playing at. So, I think that is what the fans are going to get in season five.

The Boys season four finale streams Thursday on Prime Video.

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